Regional Vic to participate in aspirin study

Six regional centres in Victoria, including Bendigo and Shepparton, will take part in one of the country's largest clinical trials.

The ASPREE study will look at the health benefits of taking aspirin and its ability to reduce cancer rates in older people.

The study will involve about 19,000 participants and will be run in Australia and the United States.

Professor John McNeil, head of the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, says there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest aspirin can reduce cancer rates.

"The best evidence comes when we do a trial like this where we randomly allocate, just by the toss of a coin, for people to take aspirin or not take aspirin and then work out, look and observe how many cases of cancer occurred," he said.

"That's the sort of evidence that doctors believe in and will change their practice as a result of it."

The State Government is providing almost $2 million towards the study.

Health Minister Daniel Andrews says it is important regional Victoria participates in developing knowledge and treatments for cancer.

"When it comes to cancer, cancer is everybody's business," he said.

"Everyday 70 Victorians are diagnosed with cancer, sadly 10,000 Victorians lose their life to cancer each year.

"That's every single Victorian right across the state touched by cancer, and it's therefore important that we try to run a proper cancer service system that benefits every single Victorian."